Pinch Me – The Pistons take Down Boston 92-104

No, you didn’t hear it wrong at all, the Pistons handed The Boston Celtics their sixth loss of the season Wednesday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Detroit, without Rodney Stuckey in the lineup who was ill with a stomach virus, started Tracy McGrady in his place at the point and he led the team to victory, putting up a season high 21 points.

Key Points:

Tons of Boston fans in the building, that really could be heard every time the Celtics scored in the first few minutes of the ball game. They were quickly silenced in the middle of the first quarter by the play of the Pistons. The Detroit fans took over along with the Pistons.

The Charlie V and KG thing never really materialized because of the quick 2 fouls Villanueva picked up, but when he left the court he “accidentally” bumped into Garnett when he was leaving. You can see it in the Highlights of the game in the video in this post.

Did the Pistons just find their new point guard? T-mac really took charge of running the offense and put up his best numbers of the year and in Pistons blue, red and white. McGrady finished with 21 on 7-for-11 shooting with 8 assists, 4 boards, with 3 steals in 30 minutes on the floor. I’m sold.

T-Mac Highlights

[flashvideo file=http://www.need4sheed.com/videos/flash_video/dec_28_10_mcgrady.f4v /]
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and The NBA

As many Pistons said last night at the game and here..as for KG and his knee. Karma is a…

Excuse me…where has this Chris Wilcox man been for the past 2 seasons? Another great performance from Wilcox, who’s play has glued Maxiell to the bench. Wilcox with some key plays again for Detroit and a great stat line. Wilcox finished with 10 points, 8 boards, 3 steals, and a blocked shot in 27 minutes on the floor.

Is it wrong that I sat in my seat at the Palace waiting for my team to blow it?

Austin Day with a HUGE game coming off the bench and lighting things up with a dozen points in a dozen minutes on the floor. His emotion and fire was evident while he was on court. Let him play!

Give it up to Tayshaun Prince who was about to check into the game when Daye was on fire. He told Q, keep him in there he’s hot…and walked back to the bench.

Unsung hero highlights, Austin Daye and Chris Wilcox

[flashvideo file=http://www.need4sheed.com/videos/flash_video/dec_28_10_daye_wilcox.f4v /]
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and The NBA

I’m not the only one who was excited after Detroit’s win. I must have high-fived 30 people on the way out of the Palace. I know..it’s just a regular season game, but we just lost to the Bobcats and then we beat Boston. Let us celebrate.

Pierce, who put up 33 points, single handily tried to win this one for his team.

I know I’m going to hear this so …. let the Stuckey talk begin. No he’s really is not a PG.

Great night for Tayshaun with 18 points and the unselfish act. He finished with 18 on the night.

Ben Gordon started the game hitting nothing but the bottom. He finished with 12 on 5-for-8 shooting.

Unselfish play all around for Detroit. Sadly this was the first time in a while they played like a true team.

27 assists on the night for Detroit.

I don’t care that Boston was without Rondo and KG for most of the game. This win was impressive.

Watching the Highlights of the WIN make this Pistons fan smile.

[flashvideo file=http://www.need4sheed.com/videos/flash_video/dec_28_10_hl.f4v /]
Courtesy of The Detroit Pistons and The NBA

Charlie V comes up big night after night for the Pistons. Charlie with 14 points on the night, 11 of them coming in the third quarter. Charlie V for three is becoming a Mason tradition now.

Tmac is more of a PG than stuckey …. just like will bynum is better than stuckey. Lol. Cut it out. 1. Even though Tracy has always been a good passer when he had legs he looked to finish as much as stuckey. 2. If anybody is getting traded its tmac. He was never meant to be part of the future. He was signed in hopes that he could regain some kinda form and be traded for something of value. Smh

you can’t bench ben wallace, he is our most efficient player (according to the WP48 stat), even though he’s old, it still sends the right message to keep him as a starter, rewarding him for doing the little things. Also, wilcox has two good games and he’s a starter? He’s barely played better than maxiel did in those same minutes. Their hustle roll players, not starting centers. I like the t-mac start though

I think stuck will be a great pg in this league in a few years, it’s big learning curve for a big guard like that, I’m a proponent of putting t-mac into the starting lineup and benching stuck giving him a message there are a still a lot of things he needs to work on as a pg. But if he can learn to manage the offense and pass the ball efficiently, while picking his shots, his size and speed will be a great asset in the future, and hopefully his defense will be a force as well. Just look at billups career, he was trade around to a number of teams before he really hit his stride as a pg, and he and stuck are very similar players from a body-type and play-style perspective. We shouldn’t give up on stuck, but help him learn and i think benching him for the more efficient t-mac is a good way to send that message.

I see what you’re getting at with the Billups comparison. He will get there. It would be good to let him come in behind T-Mac. Stuckey hinted at the beginning of the season that he would do anything for the team regarding starting or coming off the bench, so he might go for it.

I know this is purely hypothetical, but does anyone see how jerebko would fit into this squad when everyone is healthy? The pistons have so much talent, we’ve got to be able to put together an enticing package for a solid center. I like Kaman and Zach Randolph.

“Is it wrong that I sat in my seat at the Palace waiting for my team to blow it?”
I get that feeling whenever they’re in the lead. (Charlie Brown: “ugggghhhhh!”)

The team has played without a true point guard since Chauncey. So instead of the “teal years”, we can call these past few seasons the “point-less years” If I were Stuckey, I’d want out of the Joe Dumars School of PG Development and play some ball. Let TMac take the point

This felt like a beatdown on the Celtics of the mid-2000s: a.k.a. Paul Pierce and a bunch of scrubs. I’m not overly enthralled with this victory, but I’d be VERY disappointed if we blew it (just like with Orlando earlier this year).

his argument was no contract extension, other teams want stuckey more then rip and stuckey is not playing like a superstar

my rebuttal 1) new collective bargaining agreement means NOBODY gets an extension unless it is a highly unusual situation. I think 3 players got that extension this year. 2) of course stuckey is easier to move than rip. rip is expensive, emotional, and unable to play at a high level without a top 10 point guard — exactly the reasons we WANT to move rip instead of stuckey 3) stuckey is the best player on the entire pistons team. It’s true he’s not as good as he could be. It’s true he’s unable to create assists. But he’s still our best player. Ben Wallace was our best player last year, it’s a plain simple fact. This year it’s Stuckey.

You can like it or not like it, Stuckey is our best player, and what is more Joe Dumars has shown every indication he is keeping him. All the moves he has made in the past 3 years indicate that.

The only reason Joe hasn’t gotten rid of Rip already is because he has been making dumb offers. Nobody wants Rip, we are gonna have to make a “bad” trade to dump him.

Anyway, it’s nonsense from top to bottom complete 100% not true that there is any possible trade with stuckey.

i mean what possible trade could you do?

Rodney Stuckey and Prince for Earl Clarke and Turkoglu, yay 🙁

there is nothing absolutely nothing good that comes out of trading stuckey.

Actually there is one reason to trade stuckey . . . if we have to dump stuckey just to get rid of Rip’s awful contract. that’s the only possibility.

Thank you seattlepistonsfan. I feel the same way about Rodney. I refuse to even read some posts on other sites. Seems every other post is blaming him for the Pistons woes. We all know by now that he is not a pure point guard. Rodney is a “scoring” guard. He can play the point but his main thing is getting to that basket and scoring; rarely kicking it out and seldom dropping a dime. When he disciplines himself he can get 10-12 assists in a game; but his thinking is putting the ball in the hole first. When he does get a lot of assists it seems he is trying to prove he can really play the one; which he can when he has the notion to do so.

Remember when he scored those 38 and 40 points? Rodney was in a scoring state of mind in both games. When players are used according to their strengths (Gordon, Daye) they are hellfire on wheels. T-Mac has always been a fav. Love watching him regain his form. When he’s fully back, “We ain’t seen nothin’ yet!!!” Go Pistons!!!

Yeah, I agree. The fact that he can get 10 assists if he wants doesn’t mean that he is a Point Guard. All great point guards have the ability of controlling the tempo of the game, Like chauncey, nash, paul, kidd. It’s not all about racking up the assists. And I’m not sure Stuckey can do that consistantly at this point in his career. But T-Mac, I think, has that ability.